Jesus Is the Bridge Ministries

“We were waiting for almost two hours before the Ghost Talkers appeared. The horses were already back with us, and the boys who brought them tethered them, and came to join us. When the first riders rode into the valley, we let them get about half way through, then we began shooting the lead riders and horses. At first, the riders behind piled into those in front, and there was a lot of confusion and shouting. Some horses were down, others were wounded, and others were just bucking and rearing out of fear. We killed some of the riders, and others were thrown by their horses. Some got trampled.

“After a few minutes, some the riders broke off from the main group, and came up the sides of the valley after us. Three times they came, and three times we drove them back. The grass was slick was blood, and horses and men lay from the bottom of the hill we had chosen – I had no time to watch the other side of the valley – to near its top, After the third time, we knew we must run out of arrows; we had only twenty men left of our fifty-four, including the horse-handlers. We knew someone must get back to let you know what had happened. We drew lots, and Muza and I lost. Somehow we cut loose four of the horses, two for each, and got away into the badlands. After circling around to try to avoid pursuit, we headed back for our comrades. Muza was almost dead, but he stayed alive until he saw your faces once more.

“My friends died for our Lord, and they died well. Each of them killed at least five of the Ghost Walkers; I myself killed seven. May the Lord keep their souls in peace.”

With that, the young man, Paze, could say no more. He buried his head in his hands, and wept. One of the other men half led, half carried him away, and I went to give what comfort I could. I didn’t realize what a great sacrifice he had made to tell us his story. When he was laid down on a bedroll, I knelt beside him. He took my hand, and looked up at me with the most beautiful smile, and said, “It was a good day to die.”

A great sigh came from his lips, and he dropped my hand as his head rolled to the side. Portius said he must have been bleeding inside somehow; it was only by God’s grace, and his own will to share the tale with us, that he stayed alive for as long as .he did. I had wept so much in the last few days I could weep no more; I arose with dry eyes, but the pain was still as deep.

Every man in the band had lost a son, or a brother, or a father that day. Portius did a service for the dead, whose bodies would be left for the vultures, and we took our short time of rest without joy. I could not sleep, and I doubt anyone else did either. The Lord did tell me something as I lay there on the ground, staring up at the cold points of the stars: The drought had already begun. For two years, almost no rain would fall on the Kore. The Korei had sealed their own fate.

The following days were a relentless cycle of hurried flight, meals grabbed in the saddle, and brief periods of unsatisfying rest. More and more of the horses had to be left behind, lame or exhausted, or literally dead in their tracks. More and more of our men dropped behind to harass the pursuers, sometimes by night raids to stampede horses, sometimes by quick hit and run attacks to draw off pursuit. More and more of them never returned. By the time we neared the Kore, only about three hundred men, many wounded and all weary, were left to attempt the crossing.

That night, that dark night before we reached our goal – I really never expected we would push on to the Mardath – the scouts brought word that the flanking movement we had long feared had taken place. These warriors were from other bands, Spear Bearers among them. However they had managed it, they were now ahead of us, cutting us off from the Kore.

Kratze, weary as he was, covered with wounds as he was, was still cheerful as we had our last council together that night. After Portius prayed for our safety, Kratze turned toward me and Talitha.

“You two are the reasons we have willingly agreed to lay down our lives for Christ. I don’t know what he has in mind for you, and what will happen to you once you escape, but I know I won’t be around to see it. Once you’re across the Kor, as you will be, ride west until you see a great rock with three sides, and a point rising to the sky. From there, head south. A few miles away, you will see another rock of the same kind, at the edge of the Mardath. Look around, and you’ll see a tree with a white mark painted on it. From there, you’ll see another, inside the Mardath. Follow the marks, straight from one the next, and you’ll make it through. Beyond the Mardath is a country inhabited by bandits and outlaws; may God preserve you there.”

I went to him, this laughing, gentle man I loved so much, and hugged him for a long time. Talitha came up beside me, and we embraced both him and each other. When we finally broke apart, we went to Portius, more my father than my real father at that point, and we sat on either side of him. We each put an arm around him, and he gave one of his to each of us. No words passed between us; they had all been said in the days and weeks past. We shed no tears; they had been shed already in abundance, and we had all accepted what must certainly happen in the coming day.

At dawn the next day, the Horse-Eaters sat atop their horses, in a line on the bank above the Kore. Below, we could see a great mass of Korei, lined up and down the river as far as we could see. They wanted to be sure no way across was left to us. It would have been a colorful sight, if it wasn’t so terrifying. The chieftains were in their battle headdresses, from the red and black of the Spear Throwers, to the green and yellow of the Grass Weavers, and a multitude of others I didn’t even recognize. Banners fluttered in the early morning breeze, each matching the colors of the headdresses. Spears clattered against shields, and war cries rang from thousands of throats.

Kratze wasted no time; no one needed to be told what must be done. He raised his spear above his head, and brought it down with a great shout. In response, the line of horsemen, heroes undecorated and unheralded, plunged their mounts down the slope. They shouted the war cry of the Horse-Eaters, never to be heard again. I screamed it out myself, but my faint attempt was drowned out in the thunder of hooves and hoarse shouts of the men. Talitha was nearby, and Portius beyond her. Everyone rode close to the horses’ manes to present as small a target to the archers as possible. Some of the horses themselves went down, and some of the arrows found their marks. The line closed up and kept going.

Several hundred yards from the enemy lines, as prearranged, the line of riders closed in, and formed a flying wedge. It was done so quickly and smoothly, and was so unexpected, that the waiting warriors, who had not yet budged from their position, had no time to respond. As we closed the gap, with Talitha and me in the center of the wedge, the enemy lines finally surged forward to meet us. If they had been ordered to stand and hold their ground, the orders were now forgotten.

The first few warriors in the wedge went down, but those behind kept coming, and the Korei in front of them either gave way or died trying to stop them. My incredulous eyes saw it all, not only men fighting, but a gap ahead with the river beyond. The back ranks of the wedge, with Talitha and I still in their midst, burst into the calm currents of the Kor, and kept going. As we splashed though the stream, which was no higher than a horse’s flanks here, I heard loud voices of rage behind us, and a torrent of splashes as our enemy followed.

On the other bank, the Horse-Eaters in the back ranks of the wedge turned one last time to receive the onslaught. A small knot of men broke from the main group, with Talitha and me in tow. Portius joined us, but Kratze did not. For several incredible moments we heard the noise of battle behind us, but no drumbeat of hooves. We were headed west, toward the three-sided rock. As we neared it, we heard shouts behind us. Portius drew up.

“This is the last good-bye, children. Go with God, and fulfill his plan for us. Always remember that your lives were bought with a price, both of the Lord Jesus, and the riders of the Horse-Eaters. Go!”

There was no time to argue. It took just seconds to find the first mark at the edge of the Mardath, and more seconds to get there. Those few seconds were purchased by the blood of Portius and thirty brave men who died with him. As we urged our horses into the swamp, where no Korei would go willingly, we heard disappointed shouts of rage and disappointment behind us, even as arrows whizzed over our heads and past our bodies. As we took a turn out of sight of the enemy, the last shout we heard was “Die in the Mardath, witches!”

Witches or not, we might indeed die there. Except for one thing, I would willingly have died right then and there: Over 500 men had shed their blood just so we might stay alive. So, hour after hour, too numb to talk or even think, we pressed on, my sister and I. Our lives narrowed to finding the next white mark, and guiding our horses toward it. When our weary horses insisted on stopping to rest, we just sat astride them until they allowed us to urge them on.

Even in the sun of midday, the Mardath is gloomy, little light filtering through the branches and twisting vines of the crowding trees. We reached the point that, even with eyes adjusted to the dim light, we could no longer see the next mark. At that point, still without talking, we got off our horses, threw off the packs and saddles, and lay down the path, not even bothering with bedrolls.

At some time during the night, I felt a hand lightly touch my shoulder. My first thought was that Talitha was awakening me, as the reality of what had happened the day before flooded over me. As I opened my eyes, though, I saw a very tall man leaning over me. I started to scream out in fright, but he placed one finger over my lips. The fear left me, and I felt a great sense of peace and love wash over me.

“Don’t be afraid, child. I am sent to watch over you, and to tell you what the Lord intends for you. Always remember that I am with you, and will never leave you, even though you will not see me after this. The Lord knows your pain, and your grief, for he has known it, too. He has saved you and your sister-in-spirit to perform a great work in his name. You will be part of a ministry that will lead thousands to a saving knowledge of Christ, many as the fruit of your own lips. Because of what you do, people in five lands will see the light of salvation. You must endure many things, but your reward is great, both in this life and in the one to come.

“You will be a prisoner for the Lord for a period of time. The opportunity will come in yet a little while to gain your freedom, by the hand of one who will be dear to you. You must take it, or all the plans made for you will fail. Your body will be abused, but you will remain a virgin until the day you join with your husband. Now, rest in the knowledge that the Lord is ever with you, no matter how dark the night.”

With that, the light around God’s messenger faded, and he vanished from my side. I heard Talitha breathing quietly and soundly by my side, and my own eyes closed once more, in dreamless sleep.

When the first light rose in the new day, we both arose, stiff and dirty, but well rested. I shared my vision with Talitha, as we ate a bit of cold meat and bread, and took a few sips from our canteens. At an inner prompting, I caste a little loose grain into a brackish pool of water near the path. The horses immediately drank their fill. I took a sip of the water; it was fresh and sweet, so we filled our canteens with it. The horses munched without much enthusiasm on some swamp grass we pulled for them, and we headed on out of the swamp.

We were now more aware of our surroundings: the smell of rotting vegetation; the clouds of mosquitoes that swarmed around us, and all over us; the “squish, squish” of mud underneath the horses’ hooves. About midday, the ground underneath suddenly grew firm, and the vegetation changed to what you would expect in a normal forest. We discovered we were on a small island in the middle of the Mardath, and decided it was a good place to camp, and have the first normal night’s sleep we had enjoyed in weeks. We even felt safe in starting a campfire, as there was dry wood around on the island.

After a hot meal, an incredible luxury on a par with a fire and the anticipated rest in the coming night, Talitha and I talked. I learned some things from my sister I had never known, even after the four years and more I had been with her, day in and day out.

“Since I became a Christian, when I was eight, I’ve always experienced things differently from other people, I think,” she began, her hand clasped in mine, but her eyes looking at something far away. “I never told anyone, not even Mama and Papa, because I was afraid they might think I was crazy. Sometimes, not all of the time, I see things floating in the air around people, usually ugly, frightful things, but sometimes beautiful ones. I thought they were demons and angels, but I was never really sure until yesterday. In all that horrible scene of death and killing, I saw beings fighting in the air around us. When we broke through to cross the river, and when we reached the other side, I glanced back at our brave men who stood and fought. I saw more than the Horse-Eaters fighting for us. The air was full of tall, mighty beings with flaming swords, and they struck down both men and the ugly creatures that swarmed around them.

“And your angel? I saw him last night as I lay down to sleep, and I knew everything would be okay.”

I looked at my sister with, first, astonishment, then with overwhelming love. “I love you more than life, my sister,” I said, as I drew her close to me.

“And I will never leave you, even if I can’t be in chains with you,” she murmured. “I will always watch over you, just like the angel, until you have another for the task. The Lord has called me for that purpose; I have known that since the first day I saw you. You could not be any more my sister if my mother had carried us both together in the womb.”

Chapter 9

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